On the night of Oct. 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a small armed group into Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now in West Virginia, to take over the federal armory, HISTORY and Smithsonian magazine reported.

Brown wanted to arm enslaved people and start a revolt that would destroy slavery, HISTORY said. His "army" had grown to 22 men, including five Black men and three of his sons, according to HISTORY. Smithsonian magazine said 19 heavily armed men crossed a railway bridge from Maryland that night, while three stayed behind to guard weapons.

The raiders seized the armory, the rifle works and the arsenal and took hostages, the outlets reported. The first person killed was Hayward Shepherd, a free Black railroad porter who challenged the raiders in the dark, Smithsonian magazine said.

The revolt Brown hoped for never came. "Only a handful of slaves lent Brown assistance," Smithsonian magazine wrote. Local militias trapped his men, and Brown retreated into the armory's brick fire-engine house, the magazine reported.

A company of U.S. Marines arrived under the command of Robert E. Lee, the outlets reported. The National Park Service says the Marines stormed the engine house on the morning of Oct. 18. The fight was "over in less than three minutes," and 10 of Brown's men had been killed or fatally injured, Smithsonian magazine reported.

Virginia tried Brown for treason and murder, and he was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859, the outlets said. The trial was held in Charles Town, Smithsonian magazine reported. Before his execution, he handed a guard a note that said the crimes of "this guilty land" would "never be purged away" except with blood, HISTORY and Smithsonian magazine reported.

The raid failed, but HISTORY said it inflamed tensions between North and South and helped lead to the Civil War.

What we know: Brown's Oct. 16, 1859, raid failed, and he was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859.
What we don't: Exactly how many enslaved people joined the raid; the outlets say only a handful.